Operations at Barbados’ key business centres remained largely intact late Friday evening after a widespread global technology outage disrupted flights, banks, hospitals, and media outlets abroad.
Officials of the Grantley Adams International Airport reported no challenges, while it emerged that the automatic teller machines (ATMs) of two commercial banks were back in working order after being knocked offline.
The global disruption was caused by a faulty software update issued by American cybersecurity company CrowdStrike to the Microsoft cloud computing system.
Earlier in the day, Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology Marsha Caddle reported that Barbados was only slightly impacted when the ATMs of the two banks were affected.
“What we can report at this time is that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and its medical and information systems have so far not been affected,” Caddle announced. “We have also taken a report from the Grantley Adams International Airport, and they are also reporting that up to this time, no flights have been affected, [and] their own systems have not been affected.
“But what we remain to see is whether delays caused elsewhere in the world with other travel itineraries will then have knock-on effects for travel that will occur later today or over the course of the weekend. But as of now, we are not reporting any delays.”
The minister had warned customers they might experience inconvenience because the two banks had reported that their ATMs and other systems were affected.
“To be clear,” Caddle said, “this is a platform issue. This is a question of how their systems are able to run. But to be clear in the banking system, this is not a threat; this is really a software issue that was triggered by the CrowdStrike incident that is affecting people worldwide.
She cautioned that while the government does not use CrowdStrike as an anti-virus software or as a service provider, the country could be affected later through the supply chain.
Caddle said: “You would imagine that the extent of the outages, really one of the largest that we have seen worldwide, would have a knock-on effect in the supply chain for services and companies in Barbados.”
The trouble with the update issued by CrowdStrike and affecting computers running Microsoft Windows was not a hacking incident or cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which apologised and said a fix was on the way. But hours later, the disruptions continued—and escalated. Long lines formed at airports in the US, Europe, and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services at a time when many travellers are heading away on summer vacations. Hospitals and doctors’ offices had problems with their appointment systems and cancelled non-urgent surgeries. Several TV stations in the US were also prevented from airing local news early Friday and the Sky News channel in the UK was knocked offline.
In Barbados, cybersecurity expert Steven Williams agreed with Minister Caddle that the country’s supply chain could suffer.
“The systems at the banks in Barbados, because of the interconnectedness to the Internet, those systems may be fine. But, we are all part of a global supply chain built on the Internet, and by extension, those businesses would suffer indirect disruption as well,” Williams, executive director of Sunisle Technology Solutions, told Barbados TODAY.
Cybersecurity Expert Steven Williams.
Williams, who is also principal consultant at Data Privacy and Management Advisory Services, said Barbadian firms that do not use the Crowdstrike software would still feel the fallout.
“A classic example may be, within the banking community,” he said. “Many banks integrate with Visa and MasterCard if not all banks integrate with Visa and MasterCard. If Visa and MasterCard are compromised in some way like through that CrowdStrike update, it means that businesses in Barbados could be experiencing disruptions in being able to settle payments via card machines.”
The cybersecurity expert said that because most businesses take cash and do not rely solely on cards, they would continue to operate.
“CrowdStrike has been more linked to institutions that are global 500, meaning they are global multi-billion dollar companies, and by extension, the connectedness of it would mean that the software that corrupted the Windows system wouldn’t necessarily be found on local machines within the region unless they are a direct part of a global conglomerate,” he said.
“So, that going and purchasing something from a retail store now has to be done via cash; and that’s part of resilience. A complete shutdown would mean that a business would have to completely shut down because of an event. Right now, resilience states that paper money is still valuable. If we were completely dependent on Visa and MasterCard, that business would suffer a catastrophic disruption which means it will no longer function.”
Commentators said Friday’s global disruption highlights the fragility of a digital world dependent on just a handful of providers.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
